Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 1

What is slope?
An exposed ground surface or soil mass that stands at an angle with the horizontal.

Why do we need slope stability?

The ground not being level results in gravity components of the weight tending to
move the soil from the high point to a lower level. When the component of gravity is
large enough, slope failure can occur, i.e., the soil mass slide downward.
This sliding of soil mass causes huge loss of life and property so, stability analysis
of slope is essential.

Types of slopes:
Based on the method of formation:
A. Natural slope:
Natural slopes are those that exist in nature and are
formed by natural causes.
Such slopes exist in hilly sides, mountains, river
banks.

B. Man-made/ Artificial slope:

The slopes that are formed by the humans as per
their requirements.

The sides of cuttings, the slopes of embankments

constructed for roads, railway lines, canals, etc. and
the slopes of earth dams constructed for storing
water are examples of man-made slopes.

According to the extent:

A. Infinite Slope:
A slope that extends for a relatively long distance and has a consistent subsurface
profile may be analysed as an infinite slope.
Depth of the failure surface is small compared to the height of
the slope.

For e.g., the slope of the mountain.

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B. Finite Slope:
The slope that is of limited extent. The slopes of embankments and earth dams are
examples of finite slopes.
The slope length depends on the height of the dam or embankment.

Causes of slope Failures:

The main reason behind the slope failure is when the driving shear stress is higher
than the shear strength of
the soil mass.

Now, the various factors

that causes slope
instability may be
summarised as:

Increase in shear stress:

Increase in soil weight due to the increase in water content of the soil
Surcharge loading
Steepening of slopes by excavation
Earthquakes

Decline in shear strength of the soil:

Increase in pore water pressure and upward seepage as an outcome of uncommonly
heavy rains.

Swelling- Highly plastic and over-consolidated clay easily swells when it comes in contact
with water

Creep - Under sustained loading, the highly plastic clays undergo constant deformation.
Therefore, after a certain period, clays might ultimately fail, even at low shear stresses.

Cyclic loading- Under the impact of cyclic loads, the bond between the soil particles may
break, and the pore water pressure might increase, resulting in the loss of strength.

Weathering and so on.

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Langtang valley debris avalanche during 2015 Gorkha Earthquake causing around 310 deaths
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 4

Types of slope failures:

Rotational failure (predominantly in artificial slopes):
In case of rotational failure, the failure occurs by rotation along a slip surface and the
shape thus obtained in slip surface is curved. Failed surface moves outwards and
downwards.

Rotational failure may occur in three ways:

1. Face failure or slope failure

2. Toe failure
3. Base failure

 Face failure occurs when soil above the toe contains weak stratum. In this case the
failure plane intersects the slope above toe.

 Toe failure is the most common failure in which failure plane passes through toe of
slope.

 Base failure occurs when there is a weak soil stratum under the toe and failure plane
passes through base of slope.

Translational failure:
Translation failure occurs in the case of infinite
slopes and here the failure surface is parallel to
the slope surface.
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This type of failure is influenced by the preence of hard stratum at a shallow depth
below the slope surface.

Wedge Failure:

Wedge failure (also called block failure) is a failure along a inclined plane.

This type of failure occurs when there are fissures, joints, or weak soil layers in slope,
or when a slope is made of two different materials.

It is more similar to translational failure but the difference is that translational failure
only occurs in case of infinite slopes but wedge failure can occur in both infinite and
finite slopes.

Compound failure:

A Compound failure is a
combination of translational slide
and rotational slide.

In this case, the slip surface is

curved at two ends like rotational
slip surface and flat at central
portion like in translational failure.
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 6

Falls

Topples- forward rotation of soil

and/or rock mass
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Methods of Slope Stability Analysis:

 Limit Equilibrium Method
Limit Analysis Method
Numerical Method

“We will consider only the limit equilibrium method, since it is the oldest and the
mostly used method in practice. In this method, it is assumed that the soil is at the
verge of failure i.e., shears strength of soil is equal to the driving shear stress at
failure”

The following assumptions are made in this analysis: (imp.)

 The problem is considered in two-dimensions
 The failure mass moves as a rigid body
 The shear strength along the failure surface is isotropic.
 It is assumed that the coulomb equation for shear strength is applicable.
 The shearing strains at all points of the critical surface are large enough to mobilise
all the available shear strength.

Different definitions of Factors of Safety:

The most common analytical methods of slope stability use a factor of safety Fs.

1. Factor of safety with respect to shear strength:

It is the ratio of the shear strength to the shear stress along the surface of failure. i.e.,

Where, S = shear strength = c + σ’ tanΦ;

𝜏m = mobilized shear strength = cm + σ’ tanΦm; (σ’ = effective stress)
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 8

2. Factor of safety with respect to cohesion:

It is the ratio of available cohesion intercept to the mobilized cohesion intercept. i.e.,

Where,
c = cohesion intercept
cm = mobilized cohesion intercept

3. Factor of safety with respect to friction:

It is the ratio of available frictional strength to the mobilized frictional strength. i.e.,

Where,
Φ = angle of shearing resistance.
Φm = angle of mobilised shearing resistance.

For small angles;

4. Factor of safety with respect to height:

It is the ratio of critical height with respect to the actual height (H). i.e.,

FH = Hc/H;
Where;
Hc = critical height i.e., the maximum height at which it is possible for a slope to be
stable.
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 9

Stability of Infinite Slope of cohesionless soil:

Since the presence of water affects the stability of slopes, therefore the stability criteria
of an infinite slope of cohesionless soil will depend upon the soil condition i.e.,whether
the soil is dry, or submerged or has steady seepage through it.

A. Dry soil:

Considering a prism ABCD of an infinite slope

with slope angle i.
Let the width of the prism is “b” and the height
is “H”.
Now,
Area of the prism (A)= b cosi H
Considering unit thickness in third direction,
Volume of the prism (V) = bH cosi
Let γ = Unit weight of the soil then,
Weight of the prism (W) = γbH cosi
Normal component (N) = W cosi

Tangential component (T) = W sini

Therefore,
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 10

The shear stress (τ) developed due to tangential

force (T) is responsible for sliding the soil mass
along the plane CD. The sliding of soil mass will
be opposed by shear strength (s) of the soil.

We know the shear strength of the soil is;

The soil is cohesionless, therefore c = 0. Further the soil is dry; hence there is no pore
water pressure.
So,

Thus, the factor of safety against sliding is given as,

i.e.,

Thus,

If ϕ' = i, then Fs = 1 (Critical or Just stable slope)

If ϕ' < i, then Fs < 1 (Unstable slope)
If ϕ' > i, then Fs > 1 (Stable slope)

Hence, the slope will be stable as long as the angle of slope i is less than or equal to the
angle of shearing resistance ϕ' of the soil.
In limiting condition, ϕ' also called the angle of repose.
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 11

B. Submerged soil:

If the slope is submerged under water, the normal

effective stress and the shear stress are calculated
using the submerged unit weight instead of bulk unit
weight as was used for dry soil. Thus σ = γ'Hcos2i and
τ = γ' H cos i sin i, where γ' is the submerged unit
weight.

Therefore, the Factor of safety becomes,

Comparing equation (1) and (2), it can be concluded that the factor of safety of a
submerged slope is the same as that in dry condition.
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C. Steady Seepage condition:

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Finite slope Analysis:

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Friction Circle Method (imp.):

The friction circle method is for stability of slope analysis of finite homogenous soil
slopes.
Let us consider the failure surface as a circular arc of radius ‘r’. The forces acting on the
sliding wedge are:

i. Weight W of the wedge of soil

ii. Reaction R due to frictional resistance
iii. Cohesive force Cm mobilised along the slip surface

The smaller circle here is called the ‘friction circle’ or ‘Φ-circle’.

All lines which are tangent to the friction circle makes an angle of Φ m (the value of Φm
is used from assuming a suitable value of FΦ) with the normal of the slip surface.
These lines represent the direction of the reaction (R) on the slip surface.

The total reaction R, strictly speaking, will not be exactly tangential to the friction
circle, but will pass at a slightly greater radial distance than r sin φ from the centre of
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 20

the circular arc. Thus, it can be considered as being tangential to modified friction
circle of radius kr sin φm where k is a constant greater than unity, (the value of which
is supposed to depend upon the central angle θ and the nature of the distribution of
the intergranular pressure along the sliding surface)

The cohesive force Cm is equal to the cm*la where cm is the mobilized cohesion and la is
the length of the arc. This force is also equal in magnitude to c m*lc where Lc is the
length of the chord.
The line of action of this force can be determined by taking moments of the actual force
and the equivalent force about O.
i.e.,

, (la = l here)

Obviously, the value of a is greater than r so plots outside the failure arc.
Now to find the direction and magnitude of reaction,

The lines of action of W and Cm are located first. A tangent is drawn to the modified
friction circle from the point of intersection of W and Cm, to give the direction of R.
and, the magnitude of R can be found out from the force polygon.

Generally, the analysis is repeated for 3-4 times to obtain a curve between assumed
value of Fφ and the computed value of Fc, as shown.

And the Fs is computed by drawing a line at 45° which gives Fc = Fφ. The slip circle
which gives the minimum factor of safety (Fc) is the most critical circle.
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 21

Taylor’s Stability Number:

Taylor’s Stability number is a dimensionless quantity given as,

Where,
cm = Unit cohesion mobilised
γ = Unit weight of soil
H = Vertical height of the slope

Taylor (1948) prepared two charts relating the stability number to the angle of slope,
based on the friction circle method.
The first is for the general case of a c – φ soil with the angle of slope less than 53°, as
shown in Fig. 9.25
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 22

The second is for a soil with φ = 0 and a layer of rock or stiff material at a depth DH
below the top of the embankment, as shown in Fig. 9.26. Here, D is known as the depth
factor; depending upon its value, the slip circle will pass through the toe or will
emerge at a distance nH in front of the toe.
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 23

Uses of Taylor’s Chart:

 If the slope angle and mobilised friction angle are known, the stability number can
be obtained. Knowing unit weight and vertical height of the slope, the mobilized
cohesion can be got.

The factor of safety may be evaluated as the ratio of the effective cohesional
strength to the mobilised unit cohesion.

 Knowing the height of the slope, unit weight of the earth material constituting the
slope and the desired factor of safety, the stability number can be evaluated. The
slope angle can be found from the chart against the permissible angle of internal
friction
 Chapter 11 – Stability of slopes 24

Bishop’s Method of Stability Analysis:

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